Trump’s VA Secretary Is the Fourth Cabinet Member to be Caught in a Travel Expense Scandal

U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin walks from Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland in August 2017. Joshua Roberts — Reuters

Overshadowed by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price’s resignation Friday afternoon, Veterans Affairs chief David Shulkin is the latest Trump cabinet member to be found mixing personal trips and expenses with government travel. The VA secretary cruised the Thames, took in sight-seeing at Westminster Abbey, and watched a Wimbledon tennis match during a 10-day European trip with his wife, according to an itinerary obtained by The Washington Post.

The VA secretary’s 10-day trip—which also included the department’s undersecretary and her husband, Shulkin’s chief of staff, an aide, and six security people—was approximately half business, half pleasure, the itinerary reportedly details. The government paid for Shulkin’s wife airfare and provided a per diem for her meals because she was traveling on “approved invitational orders,” reports the Post.

As for Shulkin, the VA Secretary is likely hoping Price’s exit helps his own spending to fly under the radar. One of few Obama administration holdovers, Shulkin was most recently the VA’s undersecretary before being promoted by President Trump. Considering his previous boss and the current president’s unfavorable views of how the VA has been run, Shulkin may now be on thin ice—if he wasn’t already.